MonsterVine is proud to introduce the inception of its newest video feature ‘The Appetizer’ which gives you a short but concise playthrough of a particular video game. The way this works is that we will have two staff members joining in each episode to voice their opinion and engage in a discussion of the game pertinent to the things going on in the video. Occasionally, we will highlight online multiplayer video games and record that too. We hope you enjoy our pilot episode as more are on their way!

Ever wondered what the NES and Famicom versions of the Zelda theme would sound like together?

This Audio Minisode has the answer:

USA and Japan Zelda themes together

Enjoy!

SparklingBlue

While on my online travels this morning, I saw that earthbounding had found a new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks….

If we break the trailer down, this is what we find:

–It appears that the villian of the story (possibly Vaati?) takes Zelda’s body, but her spirit finds Link and travels with him. Zelda is also able to charm Phantoms and make them fight for you.
–The quest, meanwhile, appears to be something to the effect of reuniting Zelda’s spirit with her body.

Stay tuned for more information as I find it.

Happy gaming,
SparklingBlue

Bioware has introduced a new trailer that introduces The Collectors, an alien insect race hellbent on the destruction of humans.

Details on the Collectors Edition of Mass Effect 2 are found after the jump.

Retailing for $60 on PC and $70 for Xbox 360, the Collectors Edition hits January 26, 2010 in North America and January 29 in Europe.

In a tin case, the packaging includes a 48 page hardcover “Art of Mass Effect 2″ book, Issue 1 of the Mass Effect Redemption comic book, a bonus DVD of “behind the scenes and making of” videos. Also included are exclusive “in-game weapons and armor.”

Atlus has announced Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, a first person science fiction RPG coming to the Nintendo DS on March 10, 2010. Strange Journey expands the franchise by adding a new space dimension. Already released in Japan, Famitsu scored the game 10/9/9/8 which adds up to a 36/40 – the highest score obtained of a Shin Megami Tensei title thus far.

Players will investigate a mysterious dark void phenomenon at the South Pole as a team of explorers. Found at the heart of this adventure are over 300 demons to try to influence and join forces with you. The game promises a return to the “all-time dungeon-crawling classic SMT: Nocturne.”

For more information check out the game’s website at: atlus.com/strangejourney

The developers of Advent Rising have released, Shadow Complex, a two point five dimensional side scrolling shooter that tributes its Metroidvania predecessors. Many will remark that this is the modern evolution of its genre. What happens when Chair Entertainment releases a stunning quality game on the Xbox Live Arcade?

Players will note that its story isn’t necessary the game’s strongest suit, leaving one’s attention to focus on the action instead. You play as Jason Flemming, the main protagonist, who sets out a backpacking excursion with your girlfriend Claire in the mountains. However, as expected, things go horribly awry when she is kidnapped by a secret underground terrorist cell known as The Restoration. Two primary goals emerge out of this unsurprising incident, rescue her and stop the organization from fulfilling their plans. The whole premise borders on the clichéd ‘save the damsel in distress whilst fighting an evil organization’ storyline. I will note that science fiction author Orson Scott Card had an advisory role in the crafting the Shadow Complex universe. However, none of the narrative is compelling enough to remark upon further.

Shadow Complex builds its foundations upon the side scrolling games that preceded it. Players will control Jason on a mostly two dimensional plane with pseudo third person sequences dispersed throughout the game. The designs of the levels demonstrate different mentalities on how to play. You will never be lost given that you are able to pull up a map and follow the linear blue line that tells you where to go. However, I wasn’t satisfied with this approach and was inversely tempted to pursue exploring the hidden paths.

While exploration is strictly a personal preference, it doesn’t hurt that there are rewards, such as ammunition upgrades and key placards, in every nook and cranny of an area – denoted by “?” blips on the map. As you progress, new sections in previously explored places will open up. The end result leaves me to remark that backtracking never feels completely tedious. Since you won’t be able to obtain everything on the initial run-through of Shadow Complex, you’ve essentially fall into the developer’s trap of being forced into multiple playthroughs in order to fully collect and unlock everything.

Aiming is defined by the right analog stick and comes with a learning curve. It is awkward how sensitive the aiming feels but after a while I was able to adjust to the controls. Gunplay is encouraged to defeat opposing foes but one can opt for a stealth approach in clearing out rooms. I wished for more emphasis on stealth as opposed to action given the amusing antics of the unsuspecting guards. Most variants of enemies can be dispatched quite easily. I felt that the game started descending in difficulty as I acquired upgradable armor and weapons. Towards the end of the game, becoming almost superhuman provided the capability for almost endless destruction to the “victims” that stood in my path.

Avid players will notice that Shadow Complex is catering to them in a most delicious manner. Harder difficulty settings are found to have better rewards and it is absolutely essential to be well equipped and armored before proceeding. The in-game experience and level up system clocks out at 50 but not one person will be able to accomplish this feat on the first play through. In addition, the game internally tracks your actions and will accumulate certain recurring ones – engaging in melee, kicking a spider bot – as the basis for certain achievements. For a single player title, it takes into account the social impact of Xbox Live through respective leaderboards and stat tracking. The time trial challenge rooms called Proving Grounds are a definite example of demonstrating who among your friends has the competitive mentality.

There are minor gripes that I have towards the usage of the Unreal Engine 3 in Shadow Complex and must be explicitly expressed in my hatred for certain sections in the game, most notably the turret sequences. It definitely does not feel intuitive changing from a primarily two dimensional plane into a third person action perspective. I must also give my recognition to the enemies intelligent enough to stay in one place and become the fodder for my continuous stream of ammunition. Also, graphical bugs not exclusive to the crippled ragdoll syndrome or plastic facial animations are worthy of notice. Asides from those listed, the Unreal Engine 3 was the better choice in the long run given that the physics and explosions are of superb quality.

The Final Word
In the end, Shadow Complex must definitely be remarked upon for its low entry point as it is classified as an Xbox Live Arcade title. Even considering the increasing quality of the XBLA library, Shadow Complex in its inherent presentation and gameplay will be looked upon as the benchmark for future titles.

- MonsterVine Rating: Good

Misplaced Mechanics is a weekly Wednesday feature, in which Gyuri brings three games with flawed game mechanics to showcase and share his frustrations with gamers from around the world.

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 – Darkness or light…there is no twilight

JK, released in 1997, was one of the first 3D Star Wars games to utilize Jedi combat. Lightsaber combat was fun and easy, and there was a wide variety of Force Powers which made you feel like you really were a Jedi. One could say that JK put down the basics that all the later Jedi-centered Star Wars games were based on. With it’s vast, sometimes even confusing levels and a balance between combat and puzzle solving, JK was every Star Wars fan’s dream at the time of it’s release. Taking the first-person shooter elements from the original Dark Forces and adding third-person Jedi combat made it an excellent gaming experience, making Kyle Katarn’s second adveture even more memorable than the first one.

JK also introduced a now well-known mechanic in Star Wars games, the dual endings. Most Star Wars games had a light and dark ending, depending on the players actions throughout the game, or a decision made by the player at a critical moment. JK was made during the time when we still generally thought that there were either Jedi or Sith, good guys or bad guys, Light Side folk or Dark Side folk, in other words, in-between characters weren’t as well known at that point, in fact, the main character of the game, Kyle Katarn could be considered the first „Gray Jedi” in a Star Wars game.

Now my problem with JK came from this. Since this was an action game with minor RPG elements, the only real way to decide whether you’d get the light or dark ending was to develop your Force powers in the corresponding way. Some minor things also influenced it, for example killing civilians moved you toward the Dark Side, but it mostly depended on what powers you developed. This meant that anyone who tried to be an in-between Light Side Jedi had a hard time. Unlike in KotOR where you could develop any ability because your alignment depended on your actions, in JK you had to keep an eye on what powers you chose. This was bothersome because as we know, Dark Side powers are just a lot more useful – I mean who needs mind tricks, or damage-absorbing shields, when you can shock everyone to death with lightning?

The Grand Theft Auto series – Momentarily misplaced

GTA is probably among the most popular video game series today. There’s really nothing I can say that people don’t already know. You play as a criminal, usually starting as a small time crook who eventually rises to the top…after killing hundreds of people and amassing a fortune as well as a ridiculously large arsenal of weapons.

With that said, don’t you just hate getting busted in these games? I do. Especially when I get busted while driving a car. The police have a tendency to run up to your car, open the door and point their gun at you, instantly arresting you in the process. This is even more annoying if your car happens to lack a door on either side – which happens more often than you’d think – in which case the police don’t even need to open the door. You see if you at least have a door, then if you can accelerate fast enough, the poor policeman would lose his grip on the door handle and fall over, but if the door isn’t there, you have no protection against his instant-arrest maneuver. I always wondered why can’t we just shoot the policeman when he’s pointing his gun at us, given that the main character always has his submachine gun in hand for drive-by shootings. What, does the gun accidentally roll under the seat everytime this happens? I understand that having a gun in your face is not the kind of situation you’d want to retaliate in, but hey, that didn’t stop me when I was facing the barrel of a tank.

Fear Effect – Bait and switch

Fear Effect is a not very well known game made in 2000, for the Playstation. It was one of the first games to use a graphical style similar to today’s cel-shaded graphics and it’s gameplay was similar to Resident Evil. It was a unique horror game where the main source of fear weren’t the enemies, but the situations you got yourself into and even the world around you. For example, if you didn’t turn a valve to open hot steam onto a guard’s face before descending a ladder, then said guard would just shoot you while you were climbing. It was the kind of game where you really had to watch out for everything, and examine everything before attempting to do anything that could have been potentially harmful.

As you can imagine, Fear Effect was a hard game. Most players started on normal difficulty and still had a very hard time due to the game’s unique style and often unforgiving difficulty. However, can you guess what was a really big kick in the balls? When you reached the end of the game and had to choose between two paths leading to two endings, and it turned out neither of them was a happy ending, both were very depressive and made you feel like everything you’ve done was for nothing.

Surely there had to be a good ending somewhere and as you can imagine, there was. However to get it, you needed to beat the game on the hard difficulty setting. This is just plain unfair to be honest, difficulty levels exist so players can customize their experience, and while players may expect bigger rewards if they play a harder game, it’s unfair to not allow less skillful players to experience everything from the game on their preferred difficulty setting. Not just that, but there’s also no way of knowing that you can’t get the good ending on normal mode, and it’s very annoying to realize that after fighting your way through the entire game. It can even turn you off from the game, after all, this is basically the equivalent of spending hours working, then being told to start over if you want your full paycheck.

Not long after I woke up today, I found earthbounding had a new video….

October Recap

What we learn:

–Rumors of a New Zelda Wii trailer in October turned out to be false–miyamoto’s keynote at the Digital Contents Expo was actually more like an interview
–However, Miyamoto has also talked to MTV–there, he talked a little about Spirit Tracks and how “fun” it was, but also left a small tidbit about New Zelda Wii–”It’s really fun to move your body around.” in the game. That points to use of the Balance Board or any of the patented devices covered before.
–In an interview with Popular Mechanics, Miyamoto said that he didn’t see himself good at creating villians, barring Zelda. Does that mean Ganondorf will not appear in New Zelda Wii? Maybe–if Ganondorf were to appear, it would not be in a major role.
–During the same interview, Miyamoto said that he disliked focusing on backstory–so New Zelda Wii may not have the in depth plot many have hoped for.
–When asked what his dream game using the Wiimote was like, Miyamoto replied that New Zela Wii would be the game–so we know he is focusing on New Zelda Wii.
–It seems that the next console is closer than last thought, and Nintendo is coming back to the core crowd–one analyst predicts Wii HD going on sale next year.
–The analyst explained that Nintendo is lacking profits as they are currently–Iwata has said that Nintendo needs more content, therefore profits are falling.
–Furthermore, Iwata said that the Wii has “stalled and “lost momentum”–and they still can’t release New Console yet
–New Zelda Wii could get Nintendo back on its feet
–New Console, meanwhile, has potentially entered production and will have HD–all signs that New Console isn’t that far off
–New Zelda Wii could launch on the Wii and New Console–but it has been repeatedly confirmed that New Zelda Wii will be on the Wii, so this is unlikely.
–On the Spirit Tracks front, you will be able to customize your train and make your own tracks. It is also noted that it will pose a bigger challenge.
–The official European box art has been released–in it, Zelda’s colors are brighter than everything else–possible hint of a plot point?
–It is also possible that Zelda will have a bigger role, and maybe even be playable, as Zelda is riding the train with Link.
–The box art also depicts your standard issue forest, lava canyon, and rocky hills. But if you look on the train, it has part of the eagle Triforce on its front, signaling that this is no ordinary train.
–There is also the tower rising from the rocky hills–and it too has the Triforce on it. This means the tower will play a huge role in the story.
–New Zelda Wii’s gameplay system may have been revealed–in an interview with Nintendo of Japan, Miyamoto hinted that Wii Motion Plus will make players “feel like they’re holding the sword.” plus making targeting more convenient. He also said he wants to use Wii Motion Plus on the sword–meaning New Zelda Wii may be in first person.
–The camera would be similar to what you see in racing games if New Zelda Wii is not first person. But this poses a problem–Link does not move and fight as straightfoward as a car, so this adds more credibility to New Zelda Wii being in first person.
–It is possible that the game could switch between first and third person, but we know too little at this time to make that assumption. Z Targeting could also be getting a dramatic makeover.

Stay tuned for more info as I find it.

Happy gaming,
SparklingBlue

With the game out now, ‘A Crack in Time’ will set to conclude the story arc started by Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and Ratchet and Clank Future: A Quest for Booty. Players control both Ratchet and Clank as they set to reunite and save the universe. Celebrate the launch of the game this week by watching the launch trailer.

Featuring new abilities as Ratchet’s hoverboots (allowing him to traverse through levels at high speeds) and a time manipulation gameplay mechanic (where by you can record multiple clones of Clank), there is certainly a new dimension added in this latest iteration.

Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time is out now exclusively for Playstation 3 at a retail price of $59.99. It is developed by second party publisher Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment America.

o^-^o: Don’t close that browser! Here’s what’s coming up this week on “Pokemon: The Song of a Wish”…

BEGIN PREVIEW

“I can’t believe Jirachi would send us all across the world just for a shiny rock…” Luce complained as the group returned to the village.

“Jirachi has his reasons for giving you a quest, Luce–and if you want to become human, it’s a good idea to do what he says.” Trista interjected. “You are a strong and courageous Pokemon.”

“I know, but what if we get caught in a trap and can’t escape?” Luce worried.

END PREVIEW

o^-^o: Interested to see what happens? Drop by tomorrow and see!